Tag Archive for: Future of Games

In fact, I’m such a fan of it that I’ve cultivated that truly endearing quality all your favorite debaters exhibit — the ability to fervently argue a position I in no way actually support. That’s right, I’m not happy just arguing with people who don’t agree with me. I want everyone in there.

Some of this is work-related. I only truly get comfortable about some design decisions by attacking them myself, so I pick fights about these and take various stances and see what develops.

Some of this, according to my wife, is that I’m a jerk.

Who’s to say which of us is correct (P.S., I am) but, whatever the reason, I argue a lot and I tend to gravitate toward people who can hold their own in a verbal scuffle. But, while I love a spirited discussion, I am not a fan of several trends in modern arguing, chief among them “the Google argument”.

“Are games art?” has always seemed like a silly question to even ask. I’ve been to exhibits featuring an old toaster someone fired an arrow at — if that qualifies I’m comfortable suggesting that the definition is fairly broad.

But therein lies what is probably the best litmus test for art of any sort: Do you think it’s art?

Or, better yet: Did the person making it think it was art?

On any game I’ve worked on, I’ve thought it was art. Not art-art. Not I-dress-in-black-and-wear-a-beret art. Not frame-hanging-on-the-gallery-wall art. But “art”. I had something I wanted to get across, something I wanted you to experience.